Vehicles such as cars, trucks, and vans have a number of switches that a driver can manipulate. Each switch controls something within the vehicle. Some of the switches are more conveniently operated than others. For example, many vehicles have levers such as turn signal levers or headlight control levers that are attached to the vehicle's steering column. Such switches can often be operated while a driver's hands remain on the steering wheel. Other switch can be less convenient such as those on a control panel.
Most vehicles have a shifter of some sort. Vehicles with manual transmissions have shifters that drivers use to select gear ratios. Vehicles with automatic transmissions change the gear ratios automatically and have shifters that select between gearing modes such as in-gear, park, high, low, etc. Electric cars can have shifters that select between forward, reverse, and not energized.
There are driving situations, such as when negotiating rough terrain while off-road, where a driver wants to keep one hand on the shift lever and where steering column mounted levers/switches may be hard to operate as the steering wheel is being actively rotated. Systems and methods for operating switches during intense driving situations are needed.